Boston Radio Watch®

Watching Boston radio since 1994

Saturday, February 17, 2018

The day when WEEI got silencedOn Friday, February 16, Entercom's WEEI 93.7 pulled all of its local programming from 6am to 6pm in order to accommodate an all-day sensitivity training for station's full-time personnel. That came in the wake of recent controversies which included indefinite suspension of nightime host Alex Reimer who was suspended just before the Super Bowl after he called Tom Brady's daughter an "annoying little pissant.' Then on February 9th, midday host Christian Fauria was suspended five days for using a racist impression of Don Yee, Brady's agent. Lee is of Chinese descent. Fauria has returned to air this week but Reimer's future at the station should be answered pretty soon. (Ed. Note : Note that Reimer attended last Friday's sensitivity training so all signs point to him returning shortly)

The station filled 12 hours of programming with nationally-syndicated NBC Sports Radio's programming which typically airs on WEEI from 2am to 5am weeknights.

WBUR axes Ashbrook

Tom Ashbrook, the longtime host of NPR’s syndicated radio show On Point(heard locally from 10am to Noon), was fired by WBUR 90.9 on February 14. An internal review by Boston University, the station’s operator, confirmed claims made late last year that he had created an abusive work environment. Ashbrook, who has hosted the daily two-hour morning news and analysis program for 16 years, had been on leave since the allegations emerged on December 9(BRW 12/24/17).Boston University, which owns and operates the NPR-affiliated station, said a law firm and a consulting firm conducted a pair of investigations into Ashbrook's alleged conduct. Officials said that the investigations involved interviews with employees, managers and Ashbrook himself.The law firm's review, in particular, determined that Ashbrook's conduct was not sexual in nature and did not constitute sexual harassment under BU's policy, WBUR said."Both reports also stated that WBUR management was aware of Mr. Ashbrook’s behavior and repeatedly talked with him about it, but was unsuccessful in changing his behavior," the radio station wrote in a statement.“On Point employees expressed enormous pride in the program and they recognized that along with everyone else, Mr. Ashbrook was under a great deal of pressure to make sure that the two-hour daily program was perfect. But the employees also described ways in which Mr. Ashbrook consistently overstepped reasonable lines and created a dysfunctional workplace in the process," said Gary Nicksa, BU senior vice president for operations.“I recognize that we must do better in the future,” said Charlie Kravetz, general manager of WBUR. “Despite the high-pressure nature of so much of our work, we must all be committed to a positive, respectful, and compassionate work environment in every corner of WBUR. We welcome the University’s support and Longpoint’s continuing efforts.”"On Point" can be heard on more than 290 NPR affiliates across the country, WBUR said. The program will keep using rotating fill-ins until permanent replacement is found.

"We are thrilled to have Mike continue entertaining Boston's loyal and dedicated sports fans", said company Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Brian Beasley.

“Mike Felger is a Boston institution,” said Beasley Media Group Boston Vice

President and Market Manager Mary Menna. “He is a lightning rod who will

be lighting up Boston radio for years to come!”

Felger, a graduate of Boston University, began his career in the Boston 0sports media in 1989 as an intern at the Boston Herald, where he ended up working for 19 years, ultimately covering the Bruins and Patriots and serving as the paper’s lead football columnist. From there Felger branched out to

broadcast media, hosting the afternoon drive program on ESPN Radio Boston and, from 2007 to present, serving as an anchor at NBC Sports Boston. He joined the Sports Hub at its launch in 2009. 2018 will mark Felger’s 30th year covering sports in Boston in some form

"I couldn't be happier to continue what we started here almost nine years ago and keep it going with Beasley Media Group," said Felger.On January 24, The New England Patriots and Entercomhave announced a multi-year partnership extension. The agreement includes broadcasting rights of "Patriots Monday" and "Patriots Friday" headlined by five-time Super Bowl champion and four-time Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady, as well as the Patriots' five-time Super Bowl champion Head Coach Bill Belichick on WEEI Sports Radio Network. "Entercom is enthusiastic of and committed to its role as the nation's premiere sports audio producer," said Chris Oliviero, Executive Vice President of Programming, Entercom. "Continuing this winning combination of WEEI and the Patriots, one of Entercom's over 40 professional team partnerships, is a strong sign of that commitment and passion to our listeners."WEEI-Patriots' previous 3-year deal ended with the unhappy conclusion of 2018 season.

Radio sales : Last month, Salem Communications has agreed to sell WBIX 1260 to International Church of the Grace of God, Inc., a Florida-based nonprofit religious broadcaster, for $685,000. Salem had purchased the former Radio Disney station in June 2015 for $500,000(BRW 6/6). For the past two and half years the stations known as the Buzz was programming primarily Salem's national talk network lineup and some locally produced shows on weekends. On January 8th, new owners, began programming local shows out of its Somerville studios. The new station is now known as "Nossa Radio USA" and features Portuguese language programming geared toward local Brazilian community.Meanwhile, Salem moved some of Salem's talkers like Dennis Prager(12-2pm) and Hugh Hewitt(9pm-Midnight) to WROL 950/100.3. In addition, the station now features a local afternoon drive show called The Answer hosted by former WTKK 96.9 personality Joe Ligotti and local media personality Christ Palermo. Once the sale of WBIX is finalized, Salem will still own religious “WEZE 590/The Word, WROL 950/100.3/The Spirit and Spanish religious WWDJ 1150/ Radio Luz.

Sunday, December 24, 2017

Entercom and Beasley complete the Sports Hub and Magic swapEarlier this week, Beasley Broadcast Group Inc. and Entercom had completed the previously announced asset exchange where the former company received Boston's sports talker WBZ 98.5 The Sports Hub while sending WMJX/Magic 106.7 and $12 million cash to the latter.

Caroline Beasley, Chief Executive Officer of Beasley Broadcast Group, commented in the issued press release : "The addition of WBZ-FM to our broadcast portfolio highlights Beasley's focus on premium local programming and content and is complementary to our five other radio stations and digital operations in the Boston market -- This transaction further diversifies our Boston market content offerings with marquee sports programming and live game broadcasts of several of the most prominent and competitive professional sports teams in the country."She added, "We look forward to leveraging our knowledge of the Boston market for the benefit of WBZ-FM listeners while creating an even stronger marketing platform for local area advertisers and businesses"The SportsHub also launched its brand new website on Monday. The station's streaming is now available on the Iheart Radio platform along with the other Beasley-owned station.In other local station transaction news, FCC has also approved the transfer of Entercom's divested stations WRKO 680, WBZ 1030, WZLX 100.7 and WKAF 97.7 to Iheart Media. The closing on that transaction is expected next month and iHeartMedia Boston would then own and operation 5 FM and 3 AM local stations : WXKS/Kiss 108, WJMN/Jamn 94-5, WBWL/Bull 101.7, WZLX 100.7, WKAF/New R&B 97-7, WBZ 1030, WXKS 1200 and WRKO 680.BRW Notebook :Return Engagement : Legendary Boston radio programmer and DJ is back for the third straight year on WGBH 89.7 with his annual “Christmas Eve With Oedipus” from 6 p.m. to midnight. This past Friday, he sat down with WGBH's morning anchor Joe Mathieu to discuss the 40th edition of the Boston radio classic.Oedipus started Christimas Eve show when he was working as part-time night DJ at WBCN 104.1 in 1978. When he moved into WBCN's program director chair in 1981, he decided that the only person who should work on Christmas Eve should be the boss. The show has aired on WBCN 104.1 1978 to 2008, WFNX 101.7 from 2009 to 2011, RadioBDC from 2012-2014 and WGBH 89.7 from 2015 to present.More on WMEX : As mentioned here earlier this week, Marshfield's WATD owner Ed Perry has acquired the currently-silent WMEX 1510 and hopes to brings it back to the airwaves in 2018. The Herald's business reporter Joe Dwinell had additional details on Perry's plans. Perry will likely be reconfiguring WMEX's signal in the coming months. When the station returns to air, its signal will primarily be aimed at South Shore towns which Perry is hoping to reach.WBUR's host suspended : Earlier thsi month, WBUR 90.9's license holder, Boston University, has hied two firms to investigate allegations that "On Point" host Tom Ashbrook bullied and mistreated some WBUR employees and, in the case of the female complainants, violated the university's sexual misconduct policy. Initially, eleven current and former WBUR employees delivered a collection of complaints to WBUR and BU on Dec. 7. The station and university placed Ashbrook on leave the following day, pending a review of the allegations.On December 19, the station announced that 12 more individuals came forward since the initial complaint was filed.Ashbrook who has hosted WBUR-produced and NPR-syndicated show commentedon the allegations via e-mail.

Monday, December 18, 2017

WMEX 1510 plans to return to airwaves under new local ownershipWMEX 1510, the iconic Boston station that has been off the air since June 30(BRW 7/2) will change hands in early 2018 and could return to the airwaves in the next few weeks. Local radio broadcaster Ed Perry who owns Marshfield's WATD 95.9, one of the few remaining independent, community- oriented news and music stations in the region, confirmed to BRW that he has bought WMEX at an auction this past weekend."Well, we've reached an agreement with the owners of WMEX and I've sent off a check. Of course the deal still has to be approved by the FCC which often takes a bit of time. Anyway, I'm excited about the prospect of helping to revive the station I grew up with and truly loved as a kid in Natick. Should be fun and I'm sure there's a lot of air talent around to fill the frequency with great music and memorable words. As they say..."Stay tuned" !!"He has not said what kind of radio programming WMEX plans to provide but it will likely be a mix of music and news/talk similar to his long-running WATD 95.9.BRW Notebook :What's in the name? : Earlier this month Entercom announced that the WBMX call letters that had been used locally by Mix 104.1(and Mix 98.5 before that) since February 1991 were returned to Chicago market where they resided until 1988. Entercom, which owns Mix 104.1 in Boston, debuted a brand new Classic Hip-Hop station in Windy City on November 17 and WBMX call letters were once synonymous with the format of now defunct Chicago station(on a different frequency). Back in Boston, Mix 104.1 now uses "WWBX" as its new call letters. On many commercial radio stations, about the only time one hears actual call letters is at the top of the hour, when the station is required to broadcast a station ID. Most stations here and elsewhere have built or in the process of building an identity and branding around a name and frequency - Mix 104.1, Magic 106.7, 98.5 The Sports Hub, Hot 96.9, Kiss 108, Amp Radio 103.3, Alt 92.9, Jamn 94-5, Bull 101.7, Country 102.5. But some stations in Boston are still very much call letter-driven - WBZ 1030, WEEI 93.7, WRKO 680, WZLX 100.7, WAAF 107.3. In the old days, stations wanted listeners to remember their names when they're filling out those all-important Arbitron paper diaries These days, audience measuring is all done electronically but in the new era of voice-controlled digital speakers like Echo or Alexa, radio station names and call letters still play a very important role.

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Peter Casey out as WBZ's programming and news chiefWBZ/News Radio 1030's director of news and programming Peter Casey has been let go earlier today according to reliable sources and station's staff memo obtained by Boston Radio Watch. Casey has been programming WBZ's since 1996. He joined WBZ as an assistant news director in 1993. In addition to his 24 years at WBZ, his distinguished news career in the Boston market includes stops at WHDH 850, WLVI-TV56 and WCVB-TV5. Under Casey's leadership, WBZ has been consistently ranked as one of the top listened radio stations in the market and one of the most respected news operations in the country. While Casey guided WBZ, the station was recognized with radio industry's top honors - Marconi Awards - in 1998(Major Market Station of the Year), 1999(News/Talk/Sports Station of the Year). 2010(Legendary Station of the Year) and in 2013(News Talk Station of the Year).While no official word for the split has been given, it's mighty apparent that station's new incoming owner, the financially-troubled Iheart Media, is looking to keep the operational and programming costs down. Meanwhile another station longtime vet, assistant director of programming Bill Flaherty, will head the programming on interim basis according to station's staff memo.Ironically, just two weeks ago, iHeartMedia and the union representing station's union staffers, SAG-AFTRA, had averted a major public relations nightmare in Boston — days before WBZ was set to be formally acquired by iHeart.(the station is currently being operated by Iheart under Local Marketing Agreement while awaiting FCC's license transfer approval which is expected in early January). The company and the union had reportedly reached a tentative agreement for iHeartMedia to accept the union after an initial controversial announcement from iHeart that originally stated the company would not honor the two union contracts in place, adding that WBZ employees would have to re-apply for their current positions.As the Boston Herald reported on November 9th, the two sides reached an interim agreement on , smoothing over many of the issues that had threatened to derail the sale. The Herald said, “iHeartMedia’s agreement with the union is a major concession from its initial threats to refuse to honor union contracts and force staffers to reapply for their jobs.” The proposed agreement, obtained by the Herald, read, in part, “The Employer agrees to recognize the union as the exclusive bargaining representative for all full-time and regular part-time announcers, producers, editors, writers and production assistants employed by WBZ-AM. The Employer agrees to offer employment to all current union represented employees of WBZ-AM who are listed on the attached exhibit at their current salary or hourly rate of pay.”SAG-AFTRA released a statement that read, “SAG-AFTRA is pleased to have reached a tentative agreement with iHeart for an interim agreement covering WBZ-AM. SAG-AFTRA members and iHeart management representatives worked hard for this resolution, and we look forward to a good partnership for this New England institution. The tentative agreement will be presented to the full bargaining unit for a ratification vote.”Chris Tyler returns to Boston to program WZLXOn Tuesday(11/21), HeartMedia Boston announced that Chris Tyler has been named Program Director of 100.7 WZLX/Boston's Classic Rock. Tyler replaces veteran programmer Mike Thomas who was with WZLX since February 2006 and last week moved with his other role as program director of WBZ 98.5/The Sports Hub which will shortly be owned by Beasley Broadcast Group.Tyler, a Warwick, RI native,began his radio career interning at WPRO 92.3/PRO-FM in /Providence in 1990 just before becoming an assistant Production Director and on-air personality. In 1996 he would become a part of the programming department at WERZ/Portsmouth, NH, serving as its Music Director. In 1998 he joined Clear Channel(now Iheart) as an overnighter at WJMN/Jamn 94-5 where became music director in 2002 In 2006 he moved down the hall to WXKS/Kiss 108 to become its music director/assistant program director. In 2008, he was named Program Director overseeing both Kiss and Jamn. In November 2010, he was headed back down 95 to Providence where his career began. This time he was named Operations Manager at Clear Channel Providence overseeing Rock staion WHJY 94.1FM, Hot AC WSNE/Coast 93.3 and Classic Hits WWBB/B101(BRW 11/12/10). But in February 2014 he was on the road leaving New England for Ohio after being named program director of Iheart's Top 40 WAKS 96.5 KISS-FM, Rock WMMS 100.7 FM in Cleveland.Dylan Sprague, Senior Vice President of Programming for iHeartMedia's Boston Region said in a press release : "I am excited to bring Chris back to Boston to program WZLX. His knowledge and experience in the format, exceptional leadership and vision and maybe most importantly, his knowledge of Boston and its legendary radio brands, uniquely qualify him to lead this heritage station and its iconic personalities"BRW Notebook :Beasley flips on Christmas music : Before handing over WMJX/Magic 106.7 to Entercom for $12 million check and WBZ 98.5 The SportsHub's FCC license, Beasley Broadcast Group flipped the annual switch to Christmas music last Friday(11/17) at 5pm, November 17th at 5pm. Until Christmas Day at midnight, Magic will play the best variety of holiday favorites and will continue the station's commercial-free hours at 8:15am and 2:15pm each weekday. In addition, the MAGIC OF CHRISTMAS tradition continues with commercial-free music from 6pm Christmas Eve through 8pm Christmas Day to give listeners the opportunity to enjoy their holiday favorites without interruption as they celebrate with family and friends.For listeners who miss the best variety of music on MAGIC 106.7, Today's Hits, Yesterday;s Favorites...it will be broadcast on MAGIC 106.7 HD-2, available at www.magic1067.com.

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Earlier this week, The Department of Justice's Antitrust Division has approvedthe pending merger of Entercom and CBS Radio, leading two big local swap deals involving iHeartMedia and Beasley Broadcast Group., Two CBS Radio Boston stations - classic rock WZLX 100.7 and news/talker WBZ 1030 and two Entercom Boston stations - all-talk WRKO 680 and r&b/soul WKAF 97.7 join iHeart Boston's cluster, which includes Top 40/CHR WXKS/Kiss 108, Top 40/Rhythmic WJMN/Jamn 94-5, WXKS 1200, WKOX/Talk 1430 and country WBWL/101.7 The Bull. Iheart is expected to divest WKOX/Talk 1430 upon acquisition of WRKO, WZLX and WBZ to stay under FCC's same market limit of 8 stations.

However, the biggest surprise was the swap of two ratings and revenue monsters - Beasley Broadcast Group,and Entercom/CBS Radio will exchange adult contemporary king WMJX /Magic 106.7 plus $12 million in cash for WBZ/98.5 The Sports Hub. Entercom will begin operating Magic 106.7 via LMA upon the completion of its pending merger with CBS Radio which is expected on Friday, November 17th. . In addition to WBZ 98.5, Beasley owns five other stations in the market alternative rock WBOS/Alt 92.9, classic hits WROR 105.7, WKLB/Country 102.5, WBQT/Hot 96.9, WRCA 1330 and a low-power repeater at 106.1 which is leased by Bloomberg Radio.

BRW Notes :Annalisa back on the airwaves : Last week, Northeast Broadcasting's WXRV/92.5 The River) had named former WZLX/WAAF personality Annalisa as the station’s new afternoon drive talent. Annalisa grew up in nearby Medford, MA and did college radio at Bridgewater State’s WBIM. After college, she did middays at WAAF/Boston and later crossed the street to become the first woman to host a rock radio morning show at WZLX. After leaving WZLX in 1993, she briefly part-time at WHJY in Providence before moving out West and working at legendary San Francisco' KFOG, where she did middays and hosted the 10@10 show until departing in April 2016.WXRV GM Donald St. Sauveur remarked, “Annalisa is such a wonderful talent and a passionate professional. She has an encyclopedic knowledge of the thousands of artists and bands that the River features on a daily basis. She shares stories about the songs that are the soundtrack of our audience’s lives in an irreverent and witty way that’s authentic and approachable. The response from our listeners to Annalisa has been overwhelmingly positive. We’re blessed to have her join our very talented team of on-air hosts.”Annalisa remarked, “I was raised on Boston radio, was lucky enough to start in Boston radio and am excited to be welcomed back to it at the River. It was important to me that I work at a radio station that respects their listeners, loves the community and loves to share their passion for music. The River stands out as an independent station in a cookie cutter corporate radio world.” Annalisa who's been filling in and working weekends on the Rive since late March succeeds Matt Phipps, who exited in late September.Night-time is the right time : WKLB/Country 102.5 has hired a new evening host. As of this week, Marissa Lanchak is holding down the night shift.. She succeeds Renee Castle, who left in August(BRW 8/6) and expecting a baby. Lanchak most recently did middays at WGNA/Albany, NY until August, when her position was eliminated. She previously spent the better part of a decade as APD/MD/afternoon personality at Albany's Top 40 WFLY/FLY 92.

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Confirmed : Entercom and CBS will divest five Boston stations as they are preparing to close on mergerEntercom — which owns five radio stations in Boston is planning to divest two of them. In addition, CBS Radio which owns five FM's and 1 AM locally will be shedding three of them according to an internal CBS Radio memo. Five Boston stations to be sold/traded are : Entercom's talker WRKO 680 and recently launched R&B WKAF 97.7 along with CBS Radio's WBZ/News Radio 1030, classic rocker WZLX 100.7 and WBZ/98.5 The Sports Hub.

The news comes after Entercom and CBS Radio today filed an additional amendmentwith the Securities Exchange Commission to move forward with a merger first announced in early February. What the SEC filing also says is that a total of 19 stations will be divested(11 of them are from CBS and 8 are from Entercom). Originally, only 14 stations were going to be divested. Although the SEC amendment doesn't specifically name any of 19 stations in Boston, LA, Sacramento, San Diego and Seattle. But it does say that the Entercom will be adding another 11 stations in three unnamed markets via swaps/trades.It’s hard to say exactly what’s going to happen in the Boston market after all the sales/trades are completed and who the new owner(s) will be for the five stations mentioned above. But what we do know is the new Entercom-CBS Radio entity will own five stations - WEEI/Sports Radio 93.7, WEEI 850(ESPN Radio), WBMX/Mix 104.1, WODS/AMP 103.3 and WAAF 107.3. . Nationally, Entercom is adding CBS Radio’s 100-plus stations in nearly 30 markets.BRW Notebook :He shoots, he scores : WBZ 98.5/The Sports Hub announced that Judd Sirott has been named the new radio play-by-play voice for The Boston Bruins. 98.5 The Sports Hub is the official flagship station of the Boston Bruins and the Boston Bruins Radio Network. Sirott joined analyst Bob Beers in the booth. "We are very excited to have someone with the exceptional reputation and experience that Judd has, join our team at The Sports Hub and call the Boston Bruins games on the radio," said Mike Thomas, Vice President of Programming, CBS RADIO Boston & Vice President, Sports Programming, CBS RADIO.

Sirott, 48, served as the fill-in play-by-play man for Chicago Blackhawks games on WGN 720 for the past 10 years. Sirott replaces Dave Goucher, who left in August to do television play-by-playfor the expansion Vegas Golden Knights.

Friday, September 8, 2017

CBS Radio and the five-time Super Bowl champion New England Patriots jointly announced a five-year contract extension to keep Patriots games on Boston’s WBZ-FM/”98.5 The Sports Hub’. Team President Jonathan Kraft joined last night’s pre-game show to share the news.Play-by-play voice Bob Socci(BRW 4/24/13) and game analyst Scott Zolak will continue. CBS Radio has served as the flagship radio partner of the Patriots since 1994 when the games aired on WBZ AM 1030, before transitioning to WBCN-FM in 1995.[Ed Note : WBZ 1030 technically served as NE Patriots flagship from 1991/92 to 1994/95 seasons and during that time period the WBZ became a CBS-owned station thru a couple rounds of corporate mergers among Westinghouse, Infinity Broadcasting and CBS Corp]“Our continued partnership with the New England Patriots underscores CBS RADIO’s leadership in sports radio,” said Andre Fernandez, President and CEO, CBS RADIO. “We have enjoyed an incredible relationship with this storied franchise for over 20 years and are proud to continue our partnership into the future.”The Sports Hub will broadcast “Patriots Preview” three hours prior to each game, as well as a three-hour post-game show. Both programs will be hosted by Marc Bertrand, co-host of The Sports Hub’s midday show, “Zolak and Bertrand.” Joining Bertrand on both shows will be Boston Globe and Boston.com columnist Chris Gasper and former NFL player Steve DeOssie. Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer will also serve as a contributor to the pregame show.CBS Radio and Entercom are expected to close on their massive merger later this fall and Enterecom would absorb all the broadcast rights currently licensed to the Sports Hub including Patriots, Bruins, Celtics and Revolution. In addition, Entercom already controls Red Sox radio rights thru 2023 season.While there are still looming questions as to what Boston local sports radio scene is going to look like post-merger, there are some clues emerging as to what the programming management structure will look like when the ink dries on the closing docs.Earlier in the week, CBS Radio had also announced it has signed veteran programmer Mike Thomas to a multi-year contract extension. Thomas will continue in his multi-platform role as Vice President of Sports Programming for CBS Radio and Vice President of Programming for CBS Radio Boston.Thomas was originally hired in February 2006 to serve as program director of classic rocker WZLX 100.7. He briefly took over as PD for WBCN in June 2008 and then became PD for upstart WBZ 98.5 Sports Hub in August 2009. In October 20011(BRW 10/13/11), he was named as VP of Programming for CBS' Boston cluster which includes the Sports Hub, WZLX, WBMX/Mix 104.1, WODS AMP 103.3 and WBZ/News Radio 1030. In August 2014(BRW 9/7/14), CBS Radio promoted him to VP of Sports Programming where he and Mark Chernoff currently oversee company's entire portfolio of all-Sports stations and the CBS Sports Radio network.Thomas is one of many talented CBS Radio programming execs who will play a key role in integrating CBS and Entercom sports brands in the post-merger world. He'll report to former Red Sox chief operating officer Mike Dee who was brought in May to oversee soon-to-be-massive Entercom Sports empire. One of the first orders of business for Thomas and Dee will clearly be to redefine how Boston's sports radio picture will look like going forward. BRW Notebook :A Boston Shutout : Speaking of sports, both Entercom's WEEI 93.7 and CBS Radio's WBZ 98.5 were nominated for this year's Marconi Radio award in the Sports Station of the Year category at the 28th annual NAB Marconi Radio Awards held in Austin this past week, WEEI had previously won won three - 2006, 2008 and 2012. The SportsHub took the hardware in 2011 and 2014. This year, Dallas' The Ticket 1310/96.7 took home the trophy.Marconi awards were founded in 1989 and named after inventor and Nobel Prize winner Guglielmo Marconi. The NAB Marconi Radio Awards are given to radio stations and outstanding on-air personalities to recognize excellence in radio.Reaching out : Sunday, September 10, is World Suicide Prevention Day, and Entercom will broadcastan on-air special, “I’m Listening,” on all of the company’s platforms at 10 a.m EST. The program will serve as a “campaign for mental health awareness and suicide prevention” and include “personal stories from artists and celebrities while offering help and resources to listeners via a live call-in option,” according to a press release.“I’m Listening” will be led by Entercom Seattle KISW-FM personality BJ Shea, who will be joined by guests including Dr. Christine Moutier, chief medical officer of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and Dr. Ursula Whiteside, clinical psychologist and CEO of nowmattersnow.org.Subjects to be covered during the broadcast include how individuals can become involved in suicide prevention in their local community, how to talk openly to family and friends about mental health and suicide, and how to help a loved one who is struggling with depression or suicidal thoughts.Locally, “I’m Listening” can be heard on Entercom Boston platforms WAAF 107.3, WEEI/Sports Radio 93.7, WRKO 680/"The Voice of Boston", WKAF/New R&B 97.7 and WEEI/ESPN on 850".Various artists and celebrities committed to ending the stigma of discussing mental health will also make appearances on the program. Some expected guests include the bands Metallica and Alice in Chains and musicians Jack Antonoff (Bleachers), Michael Angelakos (Passion Pit), and Krist Novoselic (Nirvana).

Thursday, August 31, 2017

WBZ fills its morning drive co-anchor role with familiar voice and face

WBZ NewsRadio 1030 AM announced last Thursday(8/23) that veteran television and radio anchor, Josh Binswanger, will be rejoining all-news/talk station as a morning drive anchor beginning in early September. Alongside WBZ's veteran Deb Lawler, Binswanger will deliver the morningâ's news stories, weekdays from 5 AM to 10 AM, on one of the most widely known and top rated all-news stations in the country. He replaces Joe Mathieu who left the station in late April and started as new morning drive anchor at WGBH 89.7 on August 10th."This is a homecoming that's a perfect fit for WBZ and for Josh", said Peter Casey, WBZ Director of News & Programming. "He brings a wealth of local knowledge and national news experience, and needs no tutorial on how to pronounce Gloucester or Worcester.""I look forward to digging into the daily process of providing great journalism on the radio every day," added Binswanger. "In an era of news anytime anywhere I'm thrilled to be able to be a part of that on WBZ"

Binswanger began his career in broadcasting when he was 14 years old and never looked back. From 1990-1995 he was the host and a producer of WBZ's award winning "Kid Company", a live weekly two-hour radio talk show for children ages 8-15. In 1993, Kid Company won a Peabody Award, one of the highest honors in broadcasting.Switching careers?WAAF 107.3's longtime morning voice Greg Hill is thinking about running for the congressional seat being vacated by Niki Tsongas reported The Boston Herald. Hill, of course, is host of "The Hill-Man Morning Show" on WAAF. Lawrence Army Jr., an attorney who serves as Hill's spokesperson, says Hill is exploring all of his options, including running for the open congressional seat said Army Jr.,. He says through Hill's philanthropic work through the Greg Hill Foundation, which he founded in 2010 to raise money for families hit by tragedies, Public service would be a logical next step for Hill. Election for Massachusetts 3rd Congressional District seat will be held in November 2018.

Hill is also the founder of the restaurant company, Whole House Group, LLC, which includes Battle Road Brewing Co. in Maynard, 29 Sudbury and the Waltham steakhouse, Flank.Hill signed a multi-year new contract with Entercom last fall(BRW 11/19/16), however with the parent company mega-merging with CBS Radio later this year, things may get somewhat quite dicey on the radio side. WAAF has been heavily rumored as one of two local Entercom signals to be included in the upcoming divestiture package yet to be approved by Department of Justice's anti-trust division. Stay tuned....BRW Notebook :Free stuff : WXRV 92.5 The River which just celebrated its 22 years a couple weeks ago is holding its 16th annual River Music Festival at Waterfront Park in Newburyport on Saturday, September 2nd featuring headliner They Might Be Giants. Full schedule and artist line-up for the free event ishere.WBMX/Mix 104.1's last Mix Fest as CBS Radio station has been scheduled for Saturday, September 16th at 2pm. This year, Mix 104.1 welcomes Kelly Clarkson, Blondie, and Andy Grammer to the stage at the DCR Hatch Memorial Shell on Boston's Charles River Esplanade. Gates open at 11am.Visit Mixfestsite for all the details.Skating to the left : Earlier this month, NHL's new expansion franchise Las Vegas Golden Knights raided key part of the Boston Bruins broadcast presence. After 16-season tenure Dave Goucher has left his post as radio play-by-play voice on WBZ/98.5 The Sports Hub and taking the TV play-by-play role for the Golden Knights. Per press release from the new team, Goucher will be joined by one-time Bruin defenseman Shane Hnidy, who will fill TV analyst role.Goucher, a Rhode Island native and Boston University grad, called Bruins action from 2000 to 2009 on WBZ 1030 and then from 2009 thru 2016/2017 season on The Sports Hub. Game analyst Bob Beers will return for his 20th year on the radio beat alongside soon-to-be-named radio voice.Radio briefs : WBUR 90.9 has opened a news bureau inside the newsroom of the Dorchester Reporter in Boston’s largest and most populous neighborhood. WBUR reporters will work in conjunction with Dorchester Reporter journalists to tell community-based stories of interest to all WBUR listeners and readers.... On August 15th and 16th, Entercom sports talker WEEI, again teamed up with regional sports cable TV network NESN to hold the 16th annual “WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon” raised more than $4 million to fight cancer. Since 2002, the annual radio-telethon has raise more than $49 million to benefit the Jimmy Fund....Police log : Earlier this week, WEEI 93.7's evening personality and Red Sox game host Mike Mutnansky addressed on-air(starting at 16:00 of the audio file) his DUI arrestin Saratoga Springs,NY three weeks ago. Mutnansky faces 3-month suspension of his driver's license. Final decision in his case will be rendered by NY State authorities later in September....Last Wednesday(8/23), former co-host of the Diehards on now defunct WWZN/1510 The Zone, Ryen Rusillo, was arrested and charged with misdemeanor criminal trespassing in Jackson Hole, WY. Rusillo has been with ESPN Radio since 2008 where he currently hosts a national midday show(1pm-4pm) heard locally on WEEI 850. He's expected to return to air after 2-week suspension on September 5th.Passings : Longtime WBZ 1030's radio personality Neil Chayet has died at age 78 on August 11th.He passed away at his home in Salem after a nine-month battle against prostate cancer. Chayet, the host of local CBS Radio show “Looking at the Law” on WBZ NewsRadio 1030, retired in June due to his illness after 42 years on air and more than 10,000 episodes recorded. The Boston native graduated from Tufts University and Harvard Law School and remained an active alum at both institutions.The Farm System : Beasley Media Group, in conjunction with Xperi and Marketron Interactive, have partnered with the National Radio Talent System to unveil the Beasley Radio Talent Institute. The 10-day program will officially debut in the summer of 2018 at Emerson College The Institute is designed as a talent incubator and farm system for aspiring broadcasters.The National Radio Talent System will be reaching out to broadcasting professionals in Boston and across the State of Massachusetts to teach sessions at the Institute. About the National Radio Talent System. See full press releasehere.Convergence : Entercom announced it has been selected as a finalist for the 2017 Acquia Engage Awards in the Media and Entertainment category. The Acquia Engage Awards recognize the amazing sites and digital experiences that organizations are building with the Acquia Platform. The winners will be announced at the Acquia Engage event at Boston's Intercontinental Hotel on October 16-18, 2017. In 2016, Entercom began the process of building a digital platform to provide new websites and functionality for all its radio stations. The result has been a new face of digital for the local brands 0while providing a state of the art content management system.Old school WRKO : Back in the day, more specifically from 1967 to 1981, talk station WRKO 680 used to be known for its Top 40 hits and music jocks. Earlier this summer, a 50th year anniversary was marked with a reunion of WRKO's Big 68 era. Event's organizer, Art Vuolo, tells BRW that a 2-DVD set is available to any and all WRKO fans who remember its golden music days : "The very fact that all five original DJs from 1997 we're still alive and present for the event makes it an incredible slice of broadcasting history. Anyone can see the first few minutes of the memorable radio broadcast that was Saturday night June 3rd by simply going to www.vuolovideo.com. It's right on the homepage and easy to access. We are donating $5.00 from every order to the Broadcasters Foundation of America, a nonprofit organization which helps broadcasters in need. If possible, could you please make mention in your next posting about the availability of this double DVD set which commemorates 50 years of WRKO as a Music station"

Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Mathieu back in the morning drive anchor seatFormer WBZ AM/NewsRadio 1030's morning anchor Joe Mathieu will officially start as the new voice of WGBH 89.7’s Morning Edition starting on Thursday, August 10th, WGBH News has announced.After departing WBZ in late April(BRW 4/25), Mathieu joined WGBH in early June to begin training and reporting for two months ahead of anchoring the program(BRW 5/17). He takes over for Morning Edition host and regional public radio news vet Bob Seay, who will stay on WGBH's morning drive program’s team to focus on producing, reporting and writing.Mathieu had spent six-plus years at WBZ 1030 where he covered many big local stories and major political races locally and nationally.Prior to his gig at WBZ, Mathieu was Washington-based program director of P.O.T.U.S., Sirius XM’s news and talk channel devoted to U.S. politics, which he launched in 2007. He has also served as a news anchor and editor for commercial stations in D.C., and was managing editor and anchor for CBS MarketWatch.WGBH supplements NPR's Morning Edition with its local news reporting and and in-depth story segments. It airs on WGBH 89.7 from 5am to 10am.WGBH 89.7 is one of two Boston's news and information pubcasters. Like its format counterpart Boston University-owned and operated WBUR 90.9, both stations have enjoyed very strong growth in recent years. Overall, the talk/news/information format has done exceptionally well in the Boston market, with commercial outlet news/talk WBZ 1030 leading the way. Earlier this week, Nielsen Audio released Boston's July period(June 22 - July 19) numbers. WBZ, WBUR and WGBH were once again among Top 10 most listened to stations in the market among persons ages 6 and up. (Click on the linkhere and then select BOSTON from a drop-down menu list). One interesting side note/observation from the recent ratings survey, five of Top 10 stations in Boston are now spoken-word formats(sports/talk/news/info).BRW Notebook :Moves made and moves to be made : Beasley's WKLB/Country 102.5 promotions director/web content director Dawn Santolucito adds Music Director role which was vacant Ginny Rogers Brophey retired back in May(BRW 5/31), the company announced today. Santolucito has been with the station since December 2009. Previously she was a promotions manager at WXKS/Kiss 108 from 2001 to 2009 where she worked with WKLB's newly appointed program manager David Corey....Speaking of roles to be filled, WKLB's sister station WBOS/Alt 92.9 is looking for a new afternoon drive personalityas mentioned here before, veteran jock Amy Brooks shifted to middays after syndicated "Dave And Chuck" got installed in the morning in late July. As for two morning guys(and a girl) on the loan from Motown, they are likely serving as placeholders for something bigger and more local once the radioactive dust settles from the massive, very slow-to-close CBS-Entercom merger(BRW 2/2) in late fall...there could be a lot of movement at year-end with formats, personalities and very likely new owners for a couple of Entercom-CBS divested stations.(Ed. Note : I'm still of the belief that a very popular and well-regarded Boston morning drive show which currently airs on a different station in the market will be in the morning on 92.9 in 2018, but that's just me so don't quote me on the message boards or bitch @ me on Twitter). Former WEEI program director Jason Wolf penned a must-read piece on what to expect after the big deal closes.

Sunday, August 6, 2017

Bloomberg Radio is bullish on Boston radio

Bloomberg Media announced this week that it has agreed to buy Newburport's 1,000 watt WNBP 1450 and its low wattage FM translator on 106.1 for $1 million from Port Broadcasting. At midnight Tuesday (8/1), Bloomberg Radio began operating the North Shore's AM-FM combo and simulcasting the content already heard on its Boston signals.(Bloomberg entered a 3-year lease with Beasley to program WRCA 106.1/WRCA 1330/WBOS 92.2HD last month(BRW 7/4)).Bloomberg tags its new Boston radio set up as 'Bloomberg 106.1' putting emphasis strictly on promoting and marketing the FM signal. The company hopes to make some modifications to Newburyport's 106.1 frequency so that North Shore commuters are are able to have a somewhat uninterrupted reception between their daily ride to and from Boston.Al Mayers, the head of Bloomberg Radio and Television stated in the press release: “We are excited to extend our broadcast footprint in the Boston market. Programming this station in Newburyport gives us the opportunity to provide timely financial information and world news to our listeners during their commute to and from the North Shore. Over the next few weeks, technical upgrades will be completed to make the experience even better.” Mayers is a Melrose native and longtime former WRKO 680 and WHDH 850 program/operations manager who left Boston in 2001 to become the head of Bloomberg's NYC-based radio operations and added TV responsibilities in 2015.As the sale process moves along, Bloomberg Radio is expected to take complete ownership of WNBP AM and FM from Port Broadcasting pending FCC approval.BRW Notebook :Comings and Goings : WRKO 680 quietly transitioned its AM drive show name from "Boston Dot Com Morning Show" to "Boston Morning Show" last month ending two-year content partnership with Boston Globe...After a year and change, WKLB 102.5's night timer Renee Castle spins out of Beasley's country music outlet this week. She's been hosting 7pm-Midnight shift since Feb. 29, 2016. Her social media profile now lists 'Iheart Radio' which might be her next professional stop...Speaking of Iheart Radio and country music, Bull 101.7's afternooner Bradford Colton is adding on to his schedule by signing up to TV work with NBC Boston/WBTS. He served as a special correspondent during WBTS's New Year's launch as Boston's new NBC affiliate. He will now serve as lifestyle and entertainment correspondent for the station. His reporting will be seen on the morning and afternoon newscasts...Sports Radio Wars : Boston's two top sports radio personalities right now are without any doubt - WBZ 98.5/SportsHub's afternoon king Michael Felger and WEEI's morning overload Kirk Minihane. Everyone is distant second or even third(Ed. Note : And I mean that with love and respect). This week, Felger got a soft-wash profile by Globe's sports media critic Chad Finn. Meanwhile, Minihane got absolutely skewered by WGBH's round-table discussion panel on the Beat Press.